The Women of Wall Street

Everyone's seen The Wolf of Wall Street. And if you haven't, you need to get on that. Seriously, watch it. It's a miracle you've been able to hold any sort of conversation with people since its release. Just kidding, I saw it about a week ago. But I mean, look at this face:

Leonardo DiCaprio in "The Wolf of Wall Street"

Anyway, if you have heard of it, you're aware of the certain misogynistic themes that run rampant throughout the entire 180 minutes of the film. But Meghan, it's a biographical film! It's supposed to be funny! They have to stay true to the characters! And yes, I do admit that there's something outrageous and alluring that sets The Wolf of Wall Street apart from the other hundreds of thousands of "Men-Are-Powerful, Women-Are-Sex-Objects" films, but it's interesting to think about how the movie would've actually went if the roles were reversed.

And that's where Los Angeles writer, Nicole Donadio, comes in. A couple of weeks ago, she released a video called "The Women of Wall Street", a parody of the original The Wolf of Wall Street trailer. Line for line, and almost exactly shot for shot, she recreated the trailer, but with a twist. All of the roles switched genders. The concept is more impressive than the actual production of the video, but in my opinion, it was very well executed and edited. First, here's the original trailer:

And here's Donadio's version:

At it's worst, it's a silly parody of a blockbuster film. At it's best, it's a nod to the inequality of women in not only the film industry, but the corporate world as well. What I found extremely interesting were the surprisingly negative comments on the Youtube page. Commenters treated the word and the concept of "feminism" in a very critical light. Although "feminism" has always been viewed as a dirty word (known to many as "the F-word"), I found it alarming how many people took the time to express their hatred for not just the video, but the feminist ideals behind it. Regardless, I'm all for these kinds of videos starting discussions and bringing to the surface some of the issues of gender that are mostly shoved under the rug. Props to Donadio, and I'm excited to see if this sparks any more critical parodies.

And in case any of you are interested, here's a link to a well-written critique on The Wolf of Wall Street from a feminist stand point. Because you know, feminism.